Faith
by DragonLadie
Summary: Sequel to 'Shatter' and 'Gone'.


Title: Faith  
Author: DragonLady  
Rating: PG  
Disclaimer: If you don't know who owns em', I ain't gonna give it away.  
Spoilers: Read 'Gone' and 'Shatter' before this story. Otherwise, you'll be thinking, whaaaaa?  
  
  
  
Faith  
  
Never thought I'd be in this place  
It's someone else's life I'm living  
Wish I were living a lie.  
The hardest part is when the bough breaks  
Falling down and then forgiving  
You didn't kiss me good-bye,  
I'm choking on the words I didn't get to say,  
And pray I get the chance one day  
  
I still run, I still swing open the door  
I still think, you'll be there like before  
Doesn't everybody out there know to never come around  
Some things a heart won't listen to  
I'm still holding out for you -SheDaisy  
  
  
  
  
  
  
She watched as Adrian walked from the room. His leaving tore her heart to shreds. She almost called him back, but a gentle touch erased the compulsion. She looked up into the warm eyes of her son. "Benjy, hey." He smiled at her, still not speaking. Sharona looked out the window, smiling peacefully as she watched Adrian walk to the car. He returned her smile. Benjy moved up next to her. "Mom, I think it's time." Not sure what Benjy was talking about, and simply delighted that her son had begun speaking again, Sharona smiled up at the boy. After a moment, she looked back out the window. "Goodbye Adrian." She watched him mouth the word back to her. He seemed to shrink in upon himself. A light rain began to fall as the car slowly moved out of sight. Sharona felt like opening the window. She acted on her desire, sliding open the heavy glass. There was no screen on the window, and she delighted at the feel of the rain on her skin. Benjy's hand reached out and took hers in his grip. "Mom, it's time Mom." Sharona turned back to her son. "What is it sweetie?" Benjy regarded her with love. "It's time to wake up. Wake up." Sharona's brows drew together. "Benjy?"  
  
"Wake up."  
  
"Wake up."  
  
"Sharona?"  
  
Sharona's eyes fluttered. She could still feel the rain, but Benjy's hands had changed, grown larger, rougher. "Bengeee?" The word slurred slightly. Her eyes opened a little, to find Adrian bowed over her, his hand wrapped around hers, and his tears falling on her arm. "Sharona?" She squeezed her eyes shut again, dull ache filling her body, unbearable pain filling her heart. "Benjy." She whispered, tears falling from her eyes. Another hand touched her cheek. Sharona's eyes closed. But something was wrong, the hand wasn't rough, or very large. She glanced up, still disoriented. A shape formed under her scrutiny. "Hey Mom." Her breath stopped. "Benjy?" He leaned down, wrapping his warm arms around her body. "Mom!" Sharona clenched her teeth. "Dream, this is a dream." Adrian smiled. "Hey Benjy, be careful with your mom huh?" Sharona opened her eyes. Benjy was still there, and Adrian was talking to him! "Is this real? Benjy?" As she woke further, the scattered thoughts of her dream returned. And with a surge of joy, she realized it was, in fact, real, her son was alive!"   
  
"Benjy, oh thank God!" Adrian stepped back as Sharona reunited with her son. He had been terrified she wouldn't wake up at all. After dropping him off that night, she had driven straight home. Adrian hadn't planned on seeing her until the next day. However, a leak in his ceiling had prompted him to ring her house. When he didn't receive an answer on her home phone or her cell, he'd panicked. Without a thought, he hailed a cab. Upon reaching her home, he'd been horrified to see it engulfed in flames. The cabbie had run next door to call the fire department. Fighting his terror, Adrian lifted his coat over his head and plunged into the house.  
  
"Sharona! Sharona! Benjy!" He could barely see through the smoke. Immediately he began coughing. "Sha-Sharona!" More coughs shook him. In hindsight, he knew he should have gotten below the smoke. At the time, however, his only thought was to get to Sharona. He stepped forward, feeling his foot brush against something. He looked down to see Benjy lying at his feet. Adrian knelt down, shaking the boy. "Benjy- cough, cough, Ben!" The kid moved slightly, coughing weakly. Adrian glanced around. Sharona lie a few feet away, a steaming pile of plaster across her back. Leaping to his feet, aware of the flames above him, Adrian rushed to her side. Wrapping his hands on his coat, he lifted the plaster from her body. Someone else was in the room, the cabbie. "Hey, hey pal, we gotta get outta here!" Monk lifted Sharona in his arms. "Get- cough- get the kid!" The cabbie hauled Benjy in his arms, then rushed from the house, followed closely by Adrian. By the time they got out, sirens could be heard down the block.  
  
  
  
  
The memory faded, and Adrian returned to Sharona's bedside. Her burns, thankfully, hadn't been too severe. However, her broken leg had required surgery. In addition, she had sustained a concussion, which put her in a coma. It had been nearly three weeks since she first arrived at the hospital. Adrian smiled as he leaned over Sharona's bed. "Hey." Sharona tore her eyes from her son. "Hey."  
  
"How are you feeling, any pain?" Sharona reached out, placing her hand on Adrian's arm. Her gaze drifted up to Benjy, her other hand closing around her son's fingers. "I feel, absolutely perfect."   
  
  
  
Sharona spent another week in the hospital before her doctors finally agreed to let her leave. Her house had been badly damaged in the fire, there was little left of it to save. Gail had offered to let Sharona stay with her while she looked for an apartment. Surprisingly, Adrian offered her his home as well. Knowing that both of them would drive her crazy, Sharona opted to stay with Adrian, since that would give her the ability to still look out for him without having to go very far to do so. Also, it wouldn't hurt to be a little closer to her paycheck.   
  
That first week at Adrian's, she barely let Benjy out of her sight. She spoke very little about her experience while in her coma, that reality of it still hard to brush aside. However, one night, after Benjy had fallen asleep, she began to talk. Adrian listened silently while she shared every detail of the dream. While she spoke, his eyes began to widen in shock. At the end of her story, he looked down at his clasped hands. "Sharona. What you've told me. Well, it, uh, it's pretty amazing." Sharona misunderstood. "Yeah, I must be out of my mind." Adrian couldn't help a laugh. "You're in good company then." He was silent for a moment, then looked over at her. "What you said, about the fire and how we acted-" He rubbed his hands. "A lot of that actually happened." Sharona looked up sharply while Adrian continued. "Benjy did die, on the way to the hospital. However, the EMT's were able to revive him." Tears spilled down Sharona's cheeks, but she continued to listen. "Afterward, when they brought you to the hospital, I called up Captain Stottlemeyer and your sister. She wasn't in Spain, but she was just leaving for a trip. We took turns sitting with you." Adrian paused again, rubbing his arms in a nervous gesture Sharona knew well. "It, uh, had to have been about a week, maybe ten days after you arrived at the hospital when I first stared to wonder if you were going to wake up. I went to visit you, the Captain was there, but Gail had gone home for the night. I just sat there by your bed. I tried to pray, but I couldn't speak, I couldn't think. All I knew, is that I could be losing you." Sharona placed a hand on Adrian's arm. He looked into her eyes. "When I saw you wake up-"  
  
Sharona smiled gently, pulling her blanket around her shoulders. Sliding herself next to him, she was surprised, then delighted to feel him place an arm around her shoulders. Leaning her head against his chest, she placed her hand in his. "I was in a world without my son. I was trapped in my mind, and losing all touch with reality. Throughout that entire time, you stood by me." She closed her eyes. "Thank you for looking after me."  
  
Adrian smiled softly, pulling her closer. Sharona drifted towards sleep.   
  
She was still having nightmares. Every so often, she'd dream of that other place, that other reality. Sometimes, after waking up, she'd wonder which world was the real one. Her heart would hammer in her chest, and she'd rush to Benjy's room just to assure herself that he was still there, still alive. Sometimes, to her aggravation, she'd find herself checking with Adrian to make sure what she saw wasn't a hallucination. Patiently, he would assure her that her son was real, that she was awake. As time passed, the dreams grew fewer and farther between. Every now and then, though, on the odd night, she'd wake up in a sheen of sweat. On those times, Adrian would soon appear, taking her hand, assuring her she was all right. She never figured out how he always 'knew'. Maybe he was so attuned to his home, he felt every change in it, including the pace of her breathing. She didn't question it, and was simply grateful that she could count on his presence. While he slowly talked her back to sleep, she would smile. Adrian never changed. Whether he was an apparition in a dream, or the real thing, he was always there, always by her side. Someday, she knew, she might wake in that other world to find her sanity gone and her son dead. If that happened, the one thing she could count on would be Adrian Monk.   
Though everything else around her vanished, he never would.   
  
With this thought, she would drift to sleep again, Adrian's hand tangled with hers. When her eyes opened tomorrow, wherever tomorrow was, he'd be there.   
  
  
  
  
  
-End  
  
  
  
I wake up and teardrops  
They fall down like rain  
I put on that old song we danced to  
And then  
I head off to my job  
Guess not much has changed  
Punch the clock   
Head for home  
Check the phone, just in case  
Go to bed, dream of you  
That's what I'm doing these days -Rascal Flatts 


End file.
